Top 5 Best Poker Sites Reviews

There are around 60 decent sized online poker rooms, operating on around 15 different types of software. In this article, I breakdown the Top 5 Best Poker sites based on the deals and bonuses offered. Factors like traffic, safety and game standard are also accounted for, but specifically for this review, bonuses and value have been given an extra special emphasis.

I will get into more detailed poker site reviews further down the page, but for all the readers wanting a quick fix, here is my recommended pick:

William Hill

One of the most rewarding poker rooms today. Depositing $20 will get you an extra $20 completely free, and on top of this you benefit from:

• First deposit bonus
• VIP scheme
• PokerTube exclusive money added tournaments
• William Hill Promotions

William Hill is my number one selected deal for poker bonuses simply because very few poker sites offer free money with no strings attached instantly after your first deposit. Of course, everywhere offers deposit bonuses that you must play to release, but these are far less impressive than extra cash in your pocket.

In fact, poker deposit bonuses in general are somewhat misleading. A room could offer a $1 million bonus if they wished, only nobody would ever be able to release. What is more important than the bonus amount, is the bonus clearance rate i.e. How much will you need to play to actually get money out of this thing.

Typically, deposit bonuses release at around 20% today, but (like everything in life), there is a little more to it - As bonuses with higher increments i.e. If you must clear $100 at a time are more difficult. Because, if you never clear the full bonus then actually you will not realise the true % clearance rate. An example would be a bonus that releases in $100 increments at a 10% rate and you end up paying $1870 in rake. In this instance, you would have only released $100 of the bonus, actually making your return closer to 5%! Anyway, do not fall for the “deposit bonus” marketing trap.

Overall, William Hill’s number one position in this review is well earned.

Before we move on, a distinction needs to be made between different types of poker deals. Generally, there are three kinds of poker deals;

1. Free poker money
2. Deposit bonuses / money on deposit
3. Rakeback / grinder deals

Whilst the William Hill deal above is without a doubt one of the best around for a casual or semi-regular player, it’s not the best deal for a professional. This is because a pro will play for maybe 40 hours per week and pay so much in “rake” that any free cash or $20 received on deposit is insignificant.

This article has been written for players who either want free money or are looking to deposit a few hundred dollars. If you are this kind of player, take notes, because this is where you get your value! Now onto the next four best poker rooms for bonuses:

Betfair

Betfair shares a lot of similarities with William Hill; A UK company, on the iPoker network and more easy cash!

Depositing €10 to Betfair today will get you a free €40 starter pack. Again, these kinds of deals are genuinely rare and this is the last deal of this kind I can find right now :-(

888Poker

Although you will not get free money in your account just for making a deposit, 888 has some other advantages that come pretty close.

Players from most countries will enjoy free cash for signing up. Although advertised as $88 free, in real terms you will get $12 or so in your account and will have to release the rest.

Finally, it’s worth noting that at the time of writing 888 is the number two ranked poker room in the world for cash game traffic and in this department it is indeed stronger than my first two picks.

PKR

UK based PKR makes my list as they offer $10 completely free to new sign ups.

Additionally, PKR offers something a little different with 3D software and is compatible for almost every device out there, which is actually pretty impressive!

Unibet

Signing up to Unibet will get you completely free cash of typically around €10 (depends on country), up to 40% rakeback through VIP, a deposit bonus and all the trimmings.

The Scandinavian based company recently developed it’s own poker software and currently sits around 14th in the global poker traffic rankings.

That’s a wrap. Did I miss out any rooms with great free money or bonuses? Do you disagree with any of the selections? Leave a comment.